See also

• Demo: Up to speed with Outlook 2007

Other Outlook courses

• Calendar I: Outlook calendar basics
• Get out of your Inbox with Outlook 2007
• Create and share contacts as Electronic Business Cards

Other up to speed courses

• Up to speed with Word 2007
• Up to speed with Excel 2007
• Up to speed with PowerPoint 2007
• Up to speed with the 2007 Office system

More Outlook information

• What's new in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Minimize or expand the Navigation Pane
• Keyboard shortcuts in the 2007 Office system
• What is a Microsoft Exchange e-mail account?
• Preview, open, and save attachments
• Blocked attachments in Outlook
• Discontinued features and modified functionality in Outlook 2007

Working with the Ribbon

• When you create or modify an item in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 (for example, an e-mail message, a contact, or a calendar entry), you'll see a band that contains commands running across the top of the window for that item. This band is called the Ribbon. The Ribbon is divided into tabs, with each tab representing a specific type of task.

  Instead of every command remaining available all the time, some commands appear only in response to an action you take. For example, when you insert or select a picture, Picture Tools appear with commands to help you format the picture.

• On each tab, the commands that you're likely to need for one set of tasks are arranged in groups, remaining on display and readily available.
• Hide the Ribbon To hide the Ribbon, double-click whichever tab is active. The commands temporarily go away. To bring them back, click any tab once.

Finding and setting Outlook options

• Where you set options for all of Outlook, like the standard reminder time for appointments or the default location for saving sent messages, hasn't changed. You still click Options on the Tools menu from within the main Outlook window and use the Options dialog box.
• Options for writing e-mail In Outlook 2007, the e-mail editing experience is based on Microsoft Office Word 2007. You'll change settings for the e-mail editor in the Editor Options window. To open the Editor Options window, start from a new message, and use the Editor Options button shown in the picture.

  

   Click the Microsoft Office Button.
    Click Editor Options.

• Options for sending e-mail When you send an e-mail message, you have choices about how that message is sent. You'll set these types of options from the Options tab on the Ribbon for that message.
• To check spelling before sending e-mail, do this:
  1. From the main Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling tab.
  2. Select the Always check spelling before sending check box.

The Quick Access Toolbar

• If you use commands every day that are not as quickly available as you would like, you can easily add them to the Quick Access Toolbar, which is above the Ribbon.

  For example, if you use the Show Bcc command every day, and you don't want to have to click the Message Options tab to access it, you can add the Show Bcc button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

  Note    You'll see and use different Quick Access Toolbars depending on the area of Outlook that you're working in. For example, customizations that you make to the Quick Access Toolbar for messages you send will not appear on the Quick Access Toolbar for contacts.

  The toolbar can be customized in several different ways:

  • You can add buttons to the toolbar by right-clicking any button you want and then clicking Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
  • You can click the command Customize Quick Access Toolbar, which appears when you right-click any button. In the dialog box that opens, choose from the commands available.
  • To move the toolbar to its own row just below the Ribbon, click the arrow on the end of the toolbar, and then click Show Below the Ribbon. To move the toolbar above the Ribbon, follow the same steps but click Show Above the Ribbon.

• To delete a button from the Quick Access Toolbar, do this:
  1. Right-click a button on the toolbar.
  2. Click Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

Sending and receiving attachments in Outlook 2007

• Sending and receiving attached files in Outlook 2007 is just as easy as it's always been — and in some ways it's even easier.
• When you receive attached Microsoft Office files or pictures, you'll be able to use the Attachment Previewer to preview those attachments right in the Outlook Reading Pane. If you're sending pictures, the Ribbon will help you send them just the way you want them.
• When you open Microsoft Office Word attachments, they'll automatically open in a Word view called Reading Mode. If you want to, you can change this standard behavior from the Word Options window. Here's how:
  1. In Word 2007, click the Click the Microsoft Office Button, and click Word Options.
  2. In the Word Options dialog box, click Popular.
  3. Under Top options for working with Word, clear the Open e-mail attachments in Full Screen Reading view check box.

Office 2007 file formats

• In Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel® 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007, and Microsoft Office Access 2007 there's a new file format. Outlook fully supports sending and receiving files that use the new formats.
• Colleagues who have Word, Excel, or PowerPoint versions 2000 through 2003 (and the latest patches and service packs) can open 2007 files. When they click on your document, they will be asked if they want to download a converter that will let them open your document.

  You cannot open an .accdb file with any version of Access except Access 2007. For more information, see What's new in Microsoft Office Access 2007.